Īt an early stage in the painting's creation, Millais painted a water vole-which an assistant had fished out of the Hogsmill-paddling next to Ophelia. The prominent red poppy-not mentioned by Shakespeare's description of the scene-represents sleep and death. They also reflect the Victorian interest in the " language of flowers", according to which each flower carries a symbolic meaning. The flowers shown floating on the river were chosen to correspond with Shakespeare's description of Ophelia's garland. Millais's close colleague William Holman Hunt was at the time working on his The Hireling Shepherd nearby. Barbara Webb, a resident of nearby Old Malden, devoted much time to finding the exact placement of the picture, and according to her research, the scene is located at Six Acre Meadow, alongside Church Road, Old Malden. Ophelia was painted along the banks of the Hogsmill River in Surrey, near Tolworth. Despite its nominal Danish setting, the landscape has come to be seen as quintessentially English. The painting is known for its depiction of the detailed flora of the river and the riverbank, stressing the patterns of growth and decay in a natural ecosystem. Ophelia's pose-her open arms and upwards gaze-also resembles traditional portrayals of saints or martyrs, but has also been interpreted as erotic. Ophelia's death has been praised as one of the most poetically written death scenes in literature. But eventually, "her garments, heavy with their drink, / Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay" down "to muddy death".
Her clothes, trapping air, have allowed her to temporarily stay afloat ("Her clothes spread wide, / And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up."). She lies in the water singing songs, as if unaware of her danger ("incapable of her own distress"). She climbs into a willow tree overhanging a brook to dangle some from its branches, and a bough breaks beneath her. Out of her mind with grief, Ophelia has been making garlands of wildflowers. The episode depicted is not usually seen onstage, as in Shakespeare's text it exists only in Gertrude's description. John Everett Millais in 1865, by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
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